Ex-owner’s plea for help to find classic Cortina she kept for 30 years

Ex-owner’s plea for help to find classic Cortina she kept for 30 years

Matt Allan

Published:7:05 amDecember 21, 2017

Motoring enthusiasts are being asked to help a Ford fan track down a car that was part of her life for more than 30 years.

Cheryl Morris is hoping that someone will be able to help her find the whereabouts of her beloved Mk3 Cortina “Veloc” nearly 10 years after she last saw it.

She sold the car to a collector in 2011 but since then the car – a brown 1600 L, registration OYA 273P – has changed hands again and Cheryl’s research points to the car heading to Scotland before being SORN’d.

The car holds a lifetime of memories for Cheryl who inherited it from her father and used it as her daily driver for nearly 20 years, and she’s keen to know what has become of it.

“That car was with me everywhere I went, and everything I did. It was my constant companion, and I wanted no other”

Cheryl Morris

Even its beginnings with her family are important to Cheryl. She explains: “In the 1970s, my father hankered after a Mk3 Cortina, but couldn’t afford it. When his friend offered to sell his Cortina to him, my father jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, his dream was short-lived. While my parents were on holiday I lent my boyfriend the car to drive home in. The next day, he offered someone a lift to a neighbouring town and promptly wrote it off.

“My parents were very good about it but I could sense that they were hiding their disappointment.”

Luckily, a nearby garage knew of a Cortina owner looking to trade in for a smaller car and so a deal was struck and Veloc – Velocipede to give it its full name – entered Cheryl’s life.

“I remember the day my parents arrived home with it, their faces beaming,” says Cheryl. “Unlike its 2.0-litre predecessor, this was a 1600 L, but, with OHC, it was still pokey and better still, it was brown. A brown car in the mid-Seventies was the bees’ knees.

“My parents were thrilled with their new acquisition but most of all, bizarrely, I felt a sense of gratitude to the car itself, just for being the car it was and appearing in our lives when it did.”

For the next few years Cheryl would borrow the car or chauffeur her parents around in it before her dad decided it was time to upgrade to a Mk5 Cortina.

“I don’t care what condition the car is in now, I just want to know where she is”

So in 1981, Veloc became Cheryl’s and for the next 30 years was a constant presence in her life.

“That car was with me everywhere I went, and everything I did. All my places of work, all my homes, all my friends and boyfriends, my family, hobbies, shopping, you name it, the car was my constant companion, and I wanted no other. I could ferry around four friends, as well as myself, with ease and comfort, and there was still room for a bale of hay in the boot!”

Her dedication to using a classic car regularly has to be applauded but in 1999 Cheryl’s husband persuaded her to switch to a more modern daily driver.

Even then she continued to run Veloc for fun for another three years before deciding the car needed a little fettling. As is often the case with classic cars, it took longer than Cheryl had hoped to get Veloc roadworthy again but in 2008 after a restoration the car was back on the road, attending classic rallies with Cheryl at the wheel.

Sadly for Cheryl, it became clear she didn’t have the facilities to keep Veloc in tip-top condition and so six years ago she reluctantly sold the car to a collector.

Since then the car has changed hands again and Cheryl believes it’s now laid up somewhere in Scotland but is desperate to know more her “long-lost friend’s” fate.

She adds: “I don’t care what condition the car is in now, I just want to know where she is. Although she was laid up she must still be other there somewhere.

“It would really make my Christmas if I knew where.”

So if you have any information that could help Cheryl find Veloc, email motors@scotsman.com and we’ll pass the information on to Cheryl.